Affecting the outer ear, swimmer's ear is a painful condition resulting from inflammation, irritation, or infection. These symptoms often occur after water gets trapped in the ear, with subsequent spread of bacteria or fungal organisms. Because this condition commonly affects swimmers, it is known as swimmer's ear. Swimmer's ear (also called acute otitis externa) often affects children and teenagers, but can also affect those with eczema (a condition that causes the skin to itch), or excess earwax.
A common source of the infection is increased moisture trapped in the ear canal, from baths, showers, swimming, or moist environments. When water is trapped in the ear canal, bacteria that normally inhabit the skin and ear canal multiply, causing infection of the ear canal. Swimmer's ear needs to be treated to reduce pain and eliminate any effect it may have on your hearing, as well as to prevent the spread of infection.
Other factors that may contribute to swimmer's ear include:
                Contact with excessive bacteria that may be present in hot tubs or polluted water        Excessive cleaning of the ear canal with cotton swabs or anything else        Contact with certain chemicals such as hair spray or hair dye (Avoid this by placing cotton balls in your ears when using these products.)        Damage to the skin of the ear canal following water irrigation to remove wax        A cut in the skin of the ear canal        Other skin conditions affecting the ear canal, such as eczema or seborrhea        
The most common symptoms of swimmer's ear are itching inside the ear and pain that gets worse when you tug on the auricle (outer ear). Other signs and symptoms may include any of the following:                Sensation that the ear is blocked or full        Drainage        Fever        Decreased hearing        Intense pain that may spread to the neck, face, or side of the head        Swollen lymph nodes around the ear or in the upper neck. Redness and swelling of the skin around the ear        
If left untreated, complications resulting from swimmer's ear may include:                Hearing loss. When the infection clears up, hearing usually returns to normal.        Recurring ear infections (chronic otitis externa). Without treatment, infection can continue.        Bone and cartilage damage (malignant otitis externa). Ear infections when not treated can spread to the base of your skull, brain, or cranial nerves. Diabetics and older adults are at higher risk for such dangerous complications.        
Although external otitis can be treated by applying antibiotic drops, it is preferable to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Removing water as soon as possible can prevent the series of conditions that lead to swimmer's ear.
There are several methods for achieving this result. Generally, people tend to use common cotton swabs to remove the water inside the ears. However, common swabs cannot be inserted inside the ears deeply enough to remove the water effectively. And when they are forced inside the ear, the cause pain and tend to leave cotton residue inside the ear, worsening the condition.
All in all, current options available in the market for tackling this issue are either ineffective or prone to lacerate and/or damage the ear canal.
U.S. patent application No. US 20050154342 A1 discloses a conical swab for removal of water inside the ears, This invention doesn't have a water absorption indicator like the present one, so it is not difficult to know when the water has been absorbed. This swab also has a thin pointed end that could be harmful to the ear canal if forced inside.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,568 discloses an ear canal dryer. This invention only removes liquid from the outer ear canal and cannot be inserted deeply into the ear. Its shape does not let it go deeper inside the ear canal, preventing it from removing water from the inner part of the canal.
U.S. patent application No. US 20100305540 discloses a device and a method to prevent swimmer's ear. This invention cannot be inserted so deep in the ear canal and only extracts liquid from the external part of the ear. Its shape does not let it go deeper inside the ear canal, preventing it from removing water from the inner part of the canal.
All in all, current options available in the market for tackling this issue are either ineffective or prone to lacerate and/or damage the ear canal.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved head swab that is effective, that can be inserted deep into the ear canal without causing pain or damage, and that indicate when the water has been absorbed effectively to overcome the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art.